• Shoreacres, 77571 - Open Year Round - Private residence (Indoor, heated pool) near Oakdale / Miramar

• PRIVATE SESSION at YOUR HOME in the River Oaks, Memorial, Heights, Rice Village and Piney Point and other surrounding areas. Email or call with your exact pool location for a price quote.

Our heated, indoor pool is located at a private residence in Shoreacres, near Oakdale and Miramar, 77571.

ISR has strict safety protocol regarding temperature and chemical balance of the water to further ensure the safest lessons for your little one.

Lessons are held Monday-Friday, for a maximum of 10 minutes per day. It takes a new student 6-8 weeks or 30-40 lessons to become ISR Skilled. Older children, with ISR experience will be on the shorter side. A young toddler, who is new to the program, will likely be on the longer side. Ultimately, the length of time in lessons will be determined by the unique needs of each individual student. Each child continues weekly lessons until they are fully ISR Skilled.

The reason for this is multifaceted. First, repetition and consistency are crucial elements of learning for young children. Research shows that short, more frequent lessons result in higher retention. Second, most children have fairly short attention spans and will not be able to focus on the task for longer and we want to take advantage of the best time for learning.

Most children cry the first few lesson due to being in a new building, a new pool, being with a stranger, and being asked to try new things. It's important for us to teach your child to trust his/her Instructor and eventually to trust the water. The parent or caregiver is encouraged to sit poolside and be the child’s best cheerleader. Remember, they are looking to you for cues. Within a few weeks, most children can't wait to come to lessons. Fear is a learned behavior. When someone has a negative experience that involves the fearful object or experience, fear is developed. Your child will only truly be fearful of the water if he or she has witnessed or experienced a traumatic aquatic event or if you are showing fear poolside. Click below for an amazing study that shows just how much…

Your nonverbal communication matters.

ISR lessons are always one-on-one, between the Instructor and the child, while the parent/caregiver sits poolside. ISR does not offer group lessons.

Parents/Caregivers are asked to sit poolside, while cheering their little one on. There will come a time, typically at the end of the course, when you will be asked to get in the water with your Instructor so you can learn how to properly practice and play with your child in the pool in order to help keep their self-rescue skills intact and avoid interference.

We work with ALL children! ISR’s unique way of teaching, via sensorimotor learning, ensures all children can be independently succesful in the water. All children need to be cleared to participate in lessons by our team of nurses via a medical history form that is completed online once a slot has been secured. Sometimes, a nurse will communicate with the parent and the instructor to issue specific protocols or modifications that help customize the child’s learning experience, but again, ALL children can learn ISR skills.

If Henry can dot it, YOUR child can do it!

We like to say, “The Sooner, The Safer!,” because drowning is the leading cause of accidental death in children under age 5, but we are happy to begin teaching a child at any age! The ISR program is geared for infants and children aged 6 months-6 years, but really there is no upper age limit! On the younger end, the student must be at least 6 months old AND able to get into a sitting position independently, and maintain it for at least a minute, in order to enroll in ISR Lessons. (Muscle required for this skill are the same core muscles used to perform a rollback-to-float.)

ISR Instructors teach infants to swim by honoring each child's individual strengths and experiences, in the same way they learn to sit, crawl, and walk before they can speak. We communicate with our students through touch and positive reinforcement while striving to set our students up for success every step of the way.

No. Every child can learn. It is the Instructor’s job to find the best way to communicate the information so that it makes sense to the child. We set your child up to be successful every time. We start where they are and move forward from there in each and every lesson.

We teach children to have a healthy respect for the water, and we work in very small increments each day. We present children with small achievable tasks and always set them up to succeed. They learn to trust their skills, and in turn, they gain an incredible amount of confidence in the water which nearly always translates to more confidence out of the water. Competence leads to Confidence!

Our first and highest priority in lessons is teaching young/non-verbal children to hold their breath. We shape breath control in all students using highly effective positive reinforcement techniques and continue to reinforce proper breath control throughout all lessons.

Dry drowning is an outdated term that terrifies many parents but is not a recognized medical term. It has been sensationalized by the media and tv/film. Drowning is not something to be concerned about in ISR lessons given the level of training of the Instructor as well as numerous safety protocols employed to ensure safe lessons for all students.

Yes, we encourage families to consider lessons in the "off season" to arm their child with aquatic skills BEFORE pools open for the summer, since lessons can last anywhere from 4-8 weeks, depending on the child. Remember, our pool is heated and indoors.

We know many parents consider swim lessons in the warmer months, and that is certainly great! Since you are likely to have lots of pool time durng these months, please keep in mind that we ask that you not practice anything you see your Instuctor doing with your child during lessons. Attempts that you make to read your child’s swimming and floating cues and behaviors can be detrimental to their next sequence of learning self-rescue skills and can add extra days or weeks to remediate. At the end of the course you will get in the pool with your child and the Instructor so you can be shown how to properly practice and play with your little one without compromising their self-rescue skills.

We encourage registering for Refresher Lessons at least once a year, after your child’s initial learning. These follow-up lessons will ensure your little one gets to adjust their skills to their rapid growth, as well as expand on the year’s previous skills. Refresher Lessons are every weekday, Monday-Friday. They work the same as the child’s first year of ISR Lessons, where the child comes to lessons until they show independence and confidence in their ISR Skills. However, since ISR Skills are not new to the child, they typically complete lessons in a shorter time frame each year.

Maintenance Lessons are individual lessons that can be scheduled periodically, and are highly recommended so that ISR Skills stay sharp and intact. ISR Self-Rescue Skills are a sensorimotor skill and therefore not simply forgotten, although these skills can certainly get rusty without use. Once a child learns any skill (swimming, piano, dance, etc.) they should continue regular, consistent practice to get “better.” If a skill isn’t used, or if bad habits interfere, their skills can certainly become compromised. Since we are talking about a life-saving skill, we want to do everything possible to keep those skills intact and polished.

Our training to become Certified is a rigorous process, as it should be, given the vulnerable population we serve. Every Certified ISR Instructor completes an 8-week intensive academic and in-water training and certification program with a minimum of 60 hours of in-water time. We receive extensive hours of academic training in anatomy, physiology, child psychology, behavior modification and development, sensorimotor learning, and how each relates to the aquatic environment. Understanding the behaviors of children in the water allows each Instructor to respond with ISR’s proprietary technique. All Instructors must have current CPR and First Aid certification. Once certified, ISR Instructors must undergo annual recertification and testing to maintain credentials.

It is necessary to distinguish between a legitimate financial need vs. a simple matter of priorities.

If you truly have a financial need, there are scholarship programs to help. Please know you will likely be asked for a W2 to verify a financial need, when applying for scholarships and they will NOT cover 100% of the tuition. You would be responsible for the portion of tuition they deem you are capable of. If you feel you would qualify for tuition assistance, are willing to agree to the above and to complete the application, please reach out to us for scholarship information.

If the weekly payments are simply a budgeting hardship for your family, here are some ideas that might help:

1) We can provide a unique link to share with friends and family who might want to contribute to your child’s ISR lessons. Many families share the link for baby showers, birthday and Christmas gift lists, etc. in order to raise the funds to cover their lessons. All contributions go directly to your child’s tuition.

2) Alternatively, you may start making payments toward your child’s account in a smaller amount than the required $130/week if you start paying in advance of your child’s start date. This option allows you to spread out the cost over a longer period of time, making it easier on the budget.